Joyride
by drinktea
Summary: A foolish mechanic loans out a car to the crew, Bolin nearly gets his behind burned, Mako is a stick in the mud, and Korra takes out an unsuspecting merchant's cabbage stand. How did this happen, again?


**A/n**: Hey, and thanks for checking out my first Legend of Korra oneshot! I wrote this super fast after watching the first two episodes. Hopefully, there'll be more where this came from. The dynamic between Korra, Bolin and Mako is already so adorable, so full of potential. I sincerely hope you enjoy this, and reviews are kindly appreciated.

* * *

_This is so freaking cool_, Bolin thought as he looked on at the car. _We might actually get to ride in one of these._ Growing up on the streets, he hadn't exactly had high hopes about ever being able to drive a car, but here was one, ready for the taking!

Just a ways off, Korra was talking to the combination mechanic-dealer about taking his fully functioning display model for a spin. After Bolin had casually whispered his idea about driving a car around the city to her, she'd grinned and marched right up to the man. They'd saved the mechanic from some "tax collectors" just minutes earlier - and by "they" he meant Korra and himself. Mako was too much of a stick in the mud to do anything now that they were in the pro-bending finals, fearing a run-in with the infamous head of Police. As for himself, he'd bent a crack in the ground and closed it up around the brutish firebender tax collector, no problem.

Now, Korra was smiling a million watts, which could only be a good thing. He turned to Mako. "Hey, looks like we're gonna test our driving skills out tonight."

Mako just blinked at one of the headlights, then frowned at the red paintjob. Stick in the mud.

"How old do you have to be to drive?" Bolin asked, circling Mako and the front of the car.

Mako crossed his arms over his torso. "No," was all he said.

"Aw, come on! I just asked how old you have to be," Bolin responded, trying not to cross over into whiny younger brother territory.

Mako grimaced, as if the very thought of Bolin driving caused him pain.

Bolin sighed. What a jerk.

* * *

"Can we really?" The girl's smile was so wide the mechanic thought it might split her face. This could only bring positive press, right? This girl was the Avatar, after all.

He gave an easy grin. "Yeah, of course you can," he answered, eyes trained on the gathering crowd behind her.

The Avatar turned around whip-fast to the two men with her. The shorter one was haranguing the taller, making grand gestures with his thick arms and circling around and around. The taller one examined the car in question from bumper to bumper, pausing to occasionally give some part of the vehicle a hard glance.

"Bolin! Mako! He says we can take it for a ride!" she called happily to them. The shopkeeper noted that she also called it loudly, and gave the crowd a sweep again. They were nudging each other and whispering. His mind spooled ahead to all the attention and money this would bring in - he could practically feel the front row pro-bending tournament seats against his tired back...

A mighty cough came from the centre of the street just then, and the mechanic jerked out of his daydreams and cast a searching look down the pavement.

The car! It was the car making those noises? He'd tuned it to perfection just yesterday!

A long, tan arm rose out of the car. "Nothing to worry about. Carry on," called the Avatar, her voice drifting back to the assembled crowd. They began to snicker. Some of them tossed him pitying looks, and others simply shook their heads.

His mouth hung open. Had he just made a horrible mistake?

The car suddenly screeched forward, to many whoops from its occupants. The tail did a not unpretty skid before speeding out of sight. The mechanic watched them dumbly.

A mistake, indeed.

* * *

Korra leaped into the front seat of the car and took the wheel without hesitance. "Alright! Boys, let me show you how it's done," she announced, jangling the car keys.

Despite himself, Mako climbed into the front seat alongside her and snapped the seatbelt at her shoulder with a gloved finger. She rolled her eyes and buckled in. For such a jerk, he sure didn't hide his soft side very well. "How do you know how to drive?" he asked her, ever to the point.

She shrugged, the very picture of nonchalance. "Can't be that hard. You push a pedal, you turn a wheel. Nothing to it, r- _hey!_"

Mako stared coolly at her, holding the newly stolen keys in his hands. "Move."

"No way. I'm the one he gave the keys to," she argued. There was no chance that someone other than her was going to drive this thing. The South Pole didn't have anything like this, and she was taking full advantage of it. Not that she didn't love running around on Naga, of course.

Bolin climbed in on Mako's other side, shutting the passenger's door with a clunk. He snatched the keys deftly from Mako's fingers. "Hey, thanks, bro."

Mako turned on his brother. "No," was all he said.

Korra watched from behind the wheel as Bolin sat on the keys and Mako none-too-subtly hinted at burning his behind to get at them. Eventually she leant against the hard, cold metal of the wheel and decided to wait for them to tire themselves out. There was no way she could bend in this car that didn't belong to her, thereby solving their problems. Ah, well. Tenzin was right about the importance of patience, at least in this case. She grinned to herself.

"What makes you think you could drive better than I could?" Bolin asked, twitching on the seat.

Mako tilted his head. "Because I've driven before," he sighed.

Bolin shot forward and toward Mako. "_What?_ You _drove_? _When_?"

"The week you were sick, I made deliveries for Apothecary Ari," Mako explained dismissively. "Now, hand them over."

Bolin stuck his tongue out. "These babies are mine, Mako," he teased, reaching to the seat beneath him-

And then he promptly fell forward into the dashboard, Mako following him to the floor soon after. What the heck?

From their positions on the floor, the brothers saw the giddy Avatar, wheel spinning in her hands. The car was moving and the keys were swinging from the ignition. She felt their uncomprehending stares. "While you were arguing I took the keys," she explained simply, eyes bright and focused on something up ahead. Her foot hovered over the accelerator.

The brothers scrambled up onto the bench and strapped themselves in. "Does that mean you...?" Bolin asked, peering at his own bottom, feeling a blush creep up on his cheeks.

Korra reached across Mako and gave Bolin a good whack. "In your dreams," she said.

"Brake. Brake. _Brakebrakebrake_," Mako said, his annoying mantra repeating in her right ear.

Korra smiled. She could have worse company.

* * *

How did this even happen? This was even worse than Bolin and Korra taking out those phony tax collectors. At this rate, Korra was going to destroy every business along the road and the car with them all. Mako wondered idly if Lin Bei Fong was open to community service or bribery.

"Pthhfp," Korra said.

He looked over at her. His scarf had blown into her mouth. He quickly pulled it away and she laughed a _thanks!_ at him, apparently too taken with the act of driving to be annoyed. How long had his scarf been in her mouth? And was she part dog? His scarf was positively soaking.

Bolin was part dog, that was certain. He had his head stuck out over the edge of the doors and was open-mouthed, staring at everything zipping by with giant eyes. Mako heaved a small sigh - his first time in a car was like that, too.

"Where to?" Korra asked them both, managing to swerve and neatly take out a cabbage stand. The little green heads crunched beneath the wheels of the car. "Sorry!" she called over her shoulder at the merchant throwing a fit.

Mako steadied the wheel with a hand until Korra turned back around in her seat. When she settled in, he told her, "You should keep your eyes on the road."

She drove horribly, hunched over the wheel like some maniac. "Why would I, when I have you?" she said smartly.

He struggled not to smile.

And then the car swerved again. Korra laughed nervously. On his other side, Bolin let out a whoop.

Mako put two fingers to his temples. He wondered if the mechanic could use a pair of front row tickets to any of their matches. In payment for whatever happened tonight, of course. And with Korra at the wheel, it was sure to be _a lot_.

... How did this happen, again?

* * *

_fin._


End file.
